Skittles Made a Gaming Controller That's Also a Classical Flute

Can PointCrow reed the room?

Toot the rainbow? Twitch star PointCrow will have to do just that to escape a dedicated streaming room. Partnering with Skittles, he’ll use a symphony-quality flute that’s also a gaming controller to complete a series of community challenges.

He might have to spend 72 hours locked inside, we’re told. Dude, you better limber up those lungs and get ready to blow like … I dunno, some famous flutist, I guess.

Here’s the requisite throwback promo:

@skittles Watch @pointcrow ♬ original sound – skittles

“The idea came from the world of challenge gaming, where players intentionally make games harder by creating their own absurd rules or controllers,” Ashley Gill, VP of brands and content marketing, tells Muse. “When we looked at that community, it already felt very Skittles: chaotic, playful and pleasantly perplexing.”

“So, we thought, what if we gave gamers an entirely new challenge—one that forces them to learn a real musical instrument just to play? The flute felt like the perfect choice. It has deep ties to gaming history through iconic melodies that many players instantly recognize. But it’s also wildly impractical” for gameplay.

That’s because, “It’s physically demanding and probably the least friendly controller imaginable. Ultimately, Skittles set out to transform a refined concert instrument into an unpredictable, breath-powered gaming device.”

So, how exactly does this work, tech-wise?

“It’s a real, playable classical flute that has been custom modified with gaming inputs,” she says. “Different notes, breath intensity and finger placements trigger in-game actions—meaning PointCrow has to genuinely learn how to play in order to progress.”

The Twitch event streams live at noon on March 19. Team OMC (led by DDB Chicago), Weber Shandwick and Starcom helped develop the project. WonderMakr devised the controller.